Miss you.
I smile and text back.
Miss you too.
Can you talk?
Not now. I’ll call when I’m at the house. Love you.
“Would you like to take that to go?” the waitress asks, pointing to my salad.
“No thanks,” I tell her as I get up from the table.
Leaving the restaurant, I see a woman who was on the soap opera my mom used to watch. Walking behind her is a guy I recognize from a cell phone commercial.
A black sedan pulls up beside me, and Harley jumps out. He comes around to open my door.
“Your carriage awaits,” he says with a smile.
“Thanks.” I get in the car and check my phone. Axl always says he loves me back, but he didn’t this time. Maybe his phone died.
“How was lunch?” Harley asks as he drives down the street.
“Brock was on his phone the whole time and my lunch was a bowl of leaves that tasted like dirt.”
He laughs. “Welcome to Hollywood.”
“Do the people here really eat like that?”
“Not everyone, but a lot of people do. Seems like everyone’s on some kind of diet. I tried paleo for a while, but it didn’t work for me.”
“So where do I go for real food?”
“Tell me what’d you like and I’ll find it.”
“Cheeseburger and fries. I’m starving. I haven’t eaten since last night.”
“Cheeseburger and fries. Got it.” He pulls into a parking lot, goes through the drive-thru, and orders.
“Here.” I reach up to the front and hand him the fifty.
“Keep it.” He pulls forward. “Consider it a welcome to California gift.”
He hands me the sack of food, and I eat my burger as he drives.
“What do you think?” he asks.
I hold up the empty sack. “Already gone.”
“So you liked it.” He winks at me in the mirror. “We have some good taco places here too. Ask the boys. They’ll tell you where to go.”
“What boys?”
“Brock’s kids. Your cousins.”
“You know them?”
“They come by the studio now and then.”
